Past Meetings

---- 2005 ----

May 25, 2005

• Jeff James past Senior Editor of Computer & Net Player on Gaming
  
  Jeff is very experienced in the games world (on-line RPG etc.) and will be bringing us current knowlege about the fun and business of games such as Mech-Warior.
  
  Jeff has served in a playtester also as a demonstrator and representative for several gaming companies and will, in the future, be submitting work for publication.
  
  He co-administrates outlawstar.net a large site serving as a gateway for fandom of the anime series "Outlaw Star"
  
  One of Jeff's most famous gaming campaigns Heavy Gear: Warrior's Destiny showcases some of his own writings. Caution: some "R"-rated material.



• READING ORBIT - OCSFC Book Club:
  Norstrilia by Cordwainer Smith

April 27, 2005

• Jackie Hyman who writes as Jacqueline Diamond
  Everyone enjoyed Jackie's visit. She was an excelent guest who gave us lots of interesting insights into writing.
  Her early novels Shadowlight and Echos were in the SF&F and Horror genres and now she is publishing mystery, suspense, and romance.
  She is also returning to SF with a new novel for which she is seeking a publisher.
  
  



• READING ORBIT- OCSFC Book Club:
  Boat of a Million Years by Poul Anderson

March 30, 2005

• Rod O'Riley and Mark Merlino on Furry Fandom
  What you wanted to know about Furry Fandom was revealed by two most knowledgeable participants.
  
  Mark Merlino has been active in science fiction and media fandom since the mid-1970's, when he was a projectionist at the Equicon/Star Trek conventions started by Bjo and John Trimble. He was also active at the International Animated Film Society's Hollywood chapter as an assistant to the President, voice actor June Foray. In the late 1970's, Mark was one of a group of five animation fans who started the Cartoon/Fantasy Organization, the very first club in North America dedicated to Japanese Animation (anime) and comics (manga). Throughout his life in fandom, Mark has been an avid collector and creator of "funny animal" artwork and stories, particularly of the more "serious" variety found in science fiction and fantasy. In 1986, Mark joined with his partner Rod O'Riley to start the first 'Furry Party" dedicated to funny animal fandom at Westercon in San Diego. The Furry Parties went on to become staples at science fiction conventions all over the globe, prompting Mark and Rodney to create the first furry fandom convention, ConFurence, in 1989.
  
  Rod O'Riley has been an avid reader of science fiction since his youth, starting off with the Barsoom books by Edgar Rice Burroughs. After reading the art collection book "Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials", Rodney became an avid collector of stories concerning interesting non-humanoid aliens of all sorts. When he met Mark Merlino in 1980, Rodney discovered a whole new variety of aliens: Those based on terrestrial animals. And he was hooked. Long desiring to be a writer himself, Rodney hooked up with a group of aspiring writers in Southern California to form The Scribes of Rivendell, a group that assisted members improve their writing for publication. Rodney later became the editor of the Scribes' story-workshop zine, SkR-APA. Since helping Mark to start the Furry Parties and later on furry fandom conventions during his college years in the 80's, Rodney has for many years since been the editor and chief writer of In-Fur-Nation, a newsletter of upcoming "furry" movies, books, comics and etc.



• READING ORBIT- OCSFC Book Club:
  The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

February 23, 2005

• No guest speaker
  Discussion of science fiction news.



• READING ORBIT- OCSFC Book Club:
  Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

January 26, 2005

• Dr. Gregory Benford, Writer, Physicist
  The world is faced with global warming and a shortage of energy. Dr. Benford has some very out-of-the-box suggestions for solutions which could be the science fiction which must become fact.


• READING ORBIT- OCSFC Book Club:
  Fallen Dragon by Peter F. Hamilton
  [Personal note: don't worry, my manly co-readers, there are no literal dragons in this novel, the thought of which, I know, has caused much fear and loathing among the reading group ;-)]
  A multi-layered novel in the gritty military tradition of Joe Haldeman and Robt. A. Heinlein, set among the 25th century star-spanning earth colonies, with intrigue ranging from the large scale within and emanating out from the ruling Z-B Corporation and it's inner power struggles -- to the personal battles of conscience and memories between a top Corp. soldier, one of the invincible "Skins", and the guerilla leader he once loved. These people and forces collide on the planet Thallspring, which conceals a secret vital to and sought after by all.

---- 2004 ----

November 25, 2004

• MEETING AGENDA: John Bowen, Pulp Collector.
  John will tell us about the publishers and writers of the early pulps. John has been a long time collector and historian of the pulps.


• READING ORBIT- OCSFC Book Club:
  The world of Null-A by Van Vogt, A. E. (Alfred Elton), 1912-

October 27, 2004

• MEETING AGENDA: A reading on tape: Laugh Track by Harlan Ellison
  Harlan's superb talent for dramatic readings was a delightful bonus to his twisted tale of a late aunt whose laugh and spirit had become the captive of the laugh tracks.


• READING ORBIT- OCSFC Book Club:
  Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card (1986)
  Winer of the Hugo and Nebula Awards -- In the aftermath of his terrible war, Ender Wiggin disappeared, and a powerful voice arose: The Speaker for the Dead, who told the true story of the Bugger War. Now, long years later, a second alien race has been discovered, but again the aliens' ways are strange and frightening. . . again, humans die. And it is only the Speaker for the Dead, who is also Ender Wiggin the Xenocide, who has the courage to confront the mystery. . . and the truth. (382 pages)
  [Availability notes: 5 in Anaheim, 1 in Fullerton, 16 in OC System (Brea, Dana Point, Foothill Ranch, Irvine Heritage Park, Irvine Wheeler, La Habra, Laguna Beach, Silverado, Westminster, Tustin), Braille audio.]

September 29, 2004

• MEETING AGENDA: No guest speaker was scheduled.
  Members shared the video "Returner"


• READING ORBIT- OCSFC Book Club:
  Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (1985)
  Winer of the Hugo and Nebula Awards -- To a defend against an impending attack by an alien race government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin is drafted into the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training. Ender's skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet Ender suffers terribly from the isolation. Ender's two older siblings are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. Between the three of them lie the abilities to remake a world. If, that is, the world survives. (384 pages)
  [Availability notes: 8 in Anaheim, 2 in Fullerton, 40 in OC System (Brea, Costa Mesa Technology, Cypress, El Toro, Foothill Ranch, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove Chapman, Irvine Heritage Park, Irvine University Park, La Habra, Ladera Ranch, Laguna Beach, Laguna Hills Tech, Laguna Niguel, Los Alamitos/Rossmoor, Orangewood, San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano, Seal Beach/Mary Wilson, Stanton, Tustin, Westminster) 3 in Orange, Braille audio.]

August 25, 2004

• MEETING AGENDA: No guest speaker was scheduled.
  Members shared the video "The Iron Giant"


• READING ORBIT- OCSFC Book Club:
  The Crystal World by J.G. Ballard (1966)
  Through a 'leaking' of time, the West African jungle starts to crystallize. Trees are metamorphosed into enormous jewels. Crocodiles encased in second glittering skins lurch down the river. Pythons with huge blind gemstone eyes rear in heraldic poses. Most men flee the area in terror, afraid to face what they cannot understand. But some, dazzled and strangely entranced, remain to drift through this dreamworld forest. There is a doctor in pursuit of his ex-mistress, an enigmatic Jesuit wields a crystal cross, and a tribe of lepers search for Paradise. . . (175 pages)
  [Availability notes: 1 in Anaheim Public Library, 1 in OC system (Tustin), 1 in Fullerton.]

July 28, 2004

• This was an open meeting with discussion of SF topics.



• READING ORBIT- OCSFC Book Club:
  The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut (1959)
  An outrageous romp through space, time, and morality. The richest, most depraived man on Earth, Malachi Constant, is offered a chance to take a space journey to distant worlds with a beautiful woman at his side. Of course, there's a catch to the invitation...and a prophetic vision about the purpose of human life that only Vonnegut has the courage to tell. (325 pages)

June 30, 2004

• Our guest will be Author David Baumann who will talk about his work on The STARMAN SERIES.
  David Baumann is an Episcopal priest, a karate instructor and a free-lance writer, who somehow manages to write one to two books, several short stories, and countless articles each year. As a free-lance writer for more than twenty years, David has published nearly four dozen articles in a variety of magazines and periodicals and one non-fiction book. A second non-fiction book is being prepared for publication this summer.
  Along with co-authors Jon Cooper and Mike Dodd, David writes the David Foster Starman Adventures — a set of brand-new old-fashioned good clean science-fiction adventure stories.



• READING ORBIT- OCSFC Book Club:
  Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan (2003)
  From Publishers Weekly
  This fast-paced, densely textured, impressive first novel is an intriguing hybrid of William Gibson's Neuromancer and Norman Spinrad's Deus X. In the 25th century, it's difficult to die a final death. Humans are issued a cortical stack, implanted into their bodies, into which consciousness is "digitized" and from which-unless the stack is hopelessly damaged-their consciousness can be downloaded ("resleeved") with its memory intact, into a new body. While the Vatican is trying to make resleeving (at least of Catholics) illegal, centuries-old aristocrat Laurens Bancroft brings Takeshi Kovacs (an Envoy, a specially trained soldier used to being resleeved and trained to soak up clues from new environments) to Earth, where Kovacs is resleeved into a cop's body to investigate Bancroft's first mysterious, stack-damaging death.
  Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. (384 pages)
  [Availability notes: 2 in OC library system (Foothill Ranch & Costa Mesa)]

SPECIAL EVENT on June 23, 2004

• About a dozen attended the tour of a special exhibit at the Laguna Museum.
  
  Laguna Art Museum
  307 Cliff Drive
  Laguna Beach
  
  The exhibit is Deborah Aschheim's Neural Architecture
  
  We had a wonderful tour and are very grateful to Mr. Stallings for this special opportunity.
  Neural Architecture, is based on the structure of the cerebral cortex. The immersive site-specific sculptural environment lights up in response to each viewer's approach, appearing to "synapse" with the gallery's existing motion sensors and security devices, quietly highlighting the building's surveillance of its occupants.
  Based on neurobiology, with light as the principal medium the work models neural systems literally as cognitive networks, and metaphorically as structures for considering the intersection of perception, consciousness, culture, and technology.
  
  Our tour was conducted by the curator of the exhibit Tyler Stallings.

May 26, 2004

• Our guest was Dr. Albert Vogeler who spoke on crop circles.
  Dr. Vogeler is a historian who taught at CSUF up until his retirement. He has various interests in addition to crop circles including the great libraries of the world and cartography. He has been curator of the cartograpy collection at the CSUF library for several years.



• READING ORBIT- OCSFC Book Club:
  Gnarl! by Rudy Rucker (2000)
  Though he is also a mathematician, computer scientist, and essayist, Rudy Rucker is best known for his ground-breaking science fiction. The companion volume to Seek!, Rucker's selected nonfiction, Gnarl! brings together three dozen of the writer's best science fiction short stories. His first major story collection in 17 years, the volume includes a number of previously unanthologized stories, including tales cowritten with Marc Laidlaw, Paul Di Filippo, and Bruce Sterling. Classics such as "The Fifty-Seventh Franz Kafka," a timely meditation on the paradoxes of cloning, are side by side with works of pseudomemoir like "The Indian Rope Trick Explained." The Rucker formula - cutting-edge physics, a wild but perversely logical imagination, and a decidedly punk attitude - illuminates this new collection. (576 pages)
  [Availability notes: None in Anaheim system, 2 in OC library system (Foothill Ranch & Irvine Heritage Park Regional), none in Fullerton, none at Buena Park. Not available on Braille audiobook.]

April 28, 2004

• Our guest was David Alexander official biographer of Gene Roddenberry
  His book, Star Trek Creator: The Authorized Biography Of Gene Roddenberry
  is available from amazon.com.



• READING ORBIT- OCSFC Book Club:
  Shikasta by Doris Lessing (1979)
  Doris Lessing stepped forward into the fabulous, the marvelous, but it is in this new novel that she makes her true break with traditional realism. Here she begins a series of novels, Canopus in Argos: Archives, set in some future time; novels transcending realism altogether, yet reinstating it within a space-age setting. She has created what she calls "a new world for myself," self-consistent and with infinite possibilities, "a realm where the petty fates of planets, let alone individuals, are only aspects of the rivalries and interactions of the greater galactic empires: Canopus, Sirius, and their enemy, the Empire Puttoria with its criminal planet Shammat Shikasta, encompasses millions of years of Earth's evolution and uses several contrasting styles and manners to do it, from the manic stupidities of "the Devil," to the lofty ruminations of "the Gods," but Lessing is also able to write the simple and sorrowful story of a single teen-age girl, whirled out of her little limitations by the world's cataclysms.(380 pages)
  [Availability: 1 in Anaheim system at Anaheim Central Library; OC library system at Garden Grove West, Irvine Heritage Park Regional, Irvine University Park & Westminster; 1 in Fullerton, none at Buena Park. Available on Braille audiobook.]

March 31, 2004

• Open Discussion of SF Topics



• READING ORBIT- OCSFC Book Club:
  Contact Imminent by Kristine Smith (2003)
  Former captain Jani Kilian is a genetically altered human-idomeni hybrid who acts as a bridge of communication between two fiercely incompatible races. With intergalactic civil war looming large -- with renegades in the Service secretly plotting extermination -- Jani Kilian is being pulled once more into perilous space. Because a horrific act of terror is about to ignite a long-feared conflict between human and alien…and the key to the survival or destruction of human civilization is waiting for her somewhere on the edge of the universe. (448 pages)
  [Availability notes: 1 in Anaheim system at Yorba Linda, 1 in OC library system at Rancho Santa Marg., none in Fullerton library, none at Buena Pk. library. Not on Braille audiobook.]
  Bonus Reading: "Unto Us a Child is Born" by David H. Keller

February 25, 2004

• Dell Wolfensparger, Multimedia and Web Producer.
  Dell will talk about his experiences in the making of the Forrest J. Ackerman Museum of Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy, a virtual museum of Forry's art, movie props and memorabilia collection on 4 CDROMs.
  While working at Marlin Software Development, Dell was the Project Manager (a.k.a. producer) of this product.
  Dell was also responsible for the September, 1996, Sci-Fi Masters™ Convention held at UCI with Forry as Guest of Honor



• READING ORBIT- OCSFC Book Club:
  Our February book will be Cryptozoic! by Brian Aldiss (1967, reissued 2002)
  Near the end of the 21st century, man made his final assault on the barriers of the fourth dimension — time — and they came tumbling down around him . . . In search of the truth are an expert mind-traveler, a phantasmal Dark Woman, an academic with the theory that time runs backward, plus aliens whose perspective includes uncreated time. A godlike vision or an child-like fantasy? Whatever they experienced, the reader must decide for himself in this splendid piece of psychologicial science fiction. (200 pages)
  [Availability notes: John Bowen bought a bunch of used copies for group & others interested in joining us. Library availability only at Fullerton Library and Braille Inst. Not available at Anaheim, Buena Park nor OC library systems.]

January 28, 2004

• A remembrance of Philip K. Dick
  Confirmed guests include Authors James Blaylock, Tim Powers, and Paul Williams (Dick's biographer.) The evening will celebrate the Fiftieth Anniversary of Dick's first novel Solar Lottery being completed and published.



• READING ORBIT- OCSFC Book Club:
  Our January book will be The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon (2001)
  It's 1939 and an 18-year-old artist and magician uses his training by Houdini to escape Czechoslovakia for his cousin's NY home. With their love of legend and fantasy, the boys launch a superhero comic-book series during the golden age of comics. (639 pages)
  [NOTE: the author made his screenwriting debut with the script for Spider-Man 2 and his darkly comic novel "The Wonder Boys" was turned into a hilarious movie. This book will also be made into a movie with the author writing the screenplay.]

---- 2003 ----

November 26 — Meeting Report

• Open meeting


• READING ORBIT- OCSFC Book Club:
  Our November book will be Pavane by Keith Roberts (1968, reissued 2001)
  In the year 1588, Queen Elizabeth was assassinated. That single tragedy set off a whole series of events, resulting in the Spanish Armada's defeat of England and subsequent demise of Protestantism. Now it's the 20th century, and the Church of Rome reigns supreme. People live a pastoral existence of guilds and farming, with technology held back to the level of the steam locomotive and primitive radio. Still, science cannot be held back forever... a revolution is building. (280 pages)
  (Available at OC system (3 copies) & Braille audio; NOT at Anh., Fullerton, YL, Plac., B. Pk.)

October 29 — Meeting Report

• A remembrance of Philip K. Dick
  Due to Tim Powers and James Blaylock being invited to be Guests of Honor at a Science Fiction Convention in France. The live conversation with these authors is postponed to our January meeting.
  Instead, we will have a presentation of a BBC video production on Philip K. Dick.


• READING ORBIT- OCSFC Book Club:
  Our October book will be Solar Lottery by Philip K. Dick (1955, reissued 2003)
  The year is 2203, and the ruler of the Universe is chosen according to the random laws of a strange game under the control of Quizmaster Verrick. But when Ted Bentley, a research technician recently dismissed from his job, signs on to work for Verrick, he has no idea that Leon Cartwright is about to become the new Quizmaster. Nor does he know that he’s about to play an integral part in the plot to assassinate Cartwright so that Verrick can resume leadership of a universe not nearly as random as it appears. (188 pages)
  [Available at Anaheim, Yorba Linda, Fullerton, OC Libraries (2 copies). Not available at Buena Park nor Braille audio.]
  

September 24

• Dell Wolfensparger, Multimedia and Web Producer
  Dell missed getting to the meeting and we toured the CD-ROM of Forry's collection without him.
  We have scheduled him to return for our February 25, 2004 meeting.


• READING ORBIT- OCSFC Book Club:
  Our September book will be Shatterday by Harlan Ellison
  Short story collection. All the stories in Shatterday were written between 1977 and 1980; with the exception of the cover story (1975) and "Would You Do It for a Penny" (1967). Ellison, in his introduction, writes that all of these stories are about mortal dreads - the darknesses and the fears that feed upon our soul; the whispers we think no one else can hear. His message is that those whispers aren't as private as we think, that even our worst and most private nightmare has an echo somewhere. . . (332 pages). [available at Anaheim Libraries (3 copies), OC Libraries (5 copies), Braille audio; Not available at Fullerton, Buena Park] + Dave has an extra copy to lend.
  

August 27

• Open meeting


• READING ORBIT- OCSFC Book Club:
  Our August book will be The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson
  It is the fourteenth century and one of the most apocalyptic events in human history is set to occur–the coming of the Black Death. History teaches us that a third of Europe’s population was destroyed. But what if? What if the plague killed 99 percent of the population instead? How would the world have changed? This is a look at the history that could have been–a history that stretches across centuries, a history that sees dynasties and nations rise and crumble, a history that spans horrible famine and magnificent innovation. These are the years of rice and salt.
  [Note: Available at Anaheim library system, Fullerton library & possibly OC libary system]

July 30

• Open meeting


• READING ORBIT- OCSFC Book Club:
  Our July book postponed from May will be Up the Walls of the World by James Tiptree, Jr.
  Participants in a secret U.S. military research project on telepathic powers receive messages from alien beings threatened with destruction. An interstellar entity is destroying whole solar systems and appears to be part of a plan to create a new mode of existence for aliens and humans alike.
  [Note: Available at Anaheim library system, Fullerton library & possibly OC libary system ]
  

June 25

• Frank Bustamante and Mike Nickoloff of Third World Games
  Will talk about their SF role playing card game Firestorm


• READING ORBIT- OCSFC Book Club:
  Our June book left over from May will be Up the Walls of the World by James Tiptree, Jr.
  Participants in a secret U.S. military research project on telepathic powers receive messages from alien beings threatened with destruction. An interstellar entity is destroying whole solar systems and appears to be part of a plan to create a new mode of existence for aliens and humans alike.
  And possibly: Gateway by Frederik Pohl. Earthman Robinette Broadhead wins a one-way lottery ticket to Gateway, an abandoned interstellar depot of the vanished Heechee race, but does not know whether the trip will make him a millionaire or a corpse.
  [Note: Available at Anaheim library system, Fullerton library & possibly OC libary system ]

May 28

• Open Meeting.


• READING ORBIT- OCSFC Book Club:
  Due to several missing principles, discussion was postponed.

April 30

• John Karwin, Curator: Fullerton Museum
  Rescheduled from February 26
  John will join us for a short wrap up of the SF exhibit which closed January 26th.
  Then we will take advantage of John's special interest in Frankenstein to discuss the history of this novel and related matters. What would the author of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, think about what her novel means to us today? What would she think about cloning and genetic engineering?
  Bring your questions and ideas for discussion.


• READING ORBIT- OCSFC Book Club:
  Our April book will be Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin
  Confused and afraid, a lone human becomes the pawn in an intrigue on Gethen, a planet inhabited by creatures that are neither male nor female. They are not neuters but have the potential to be either man or woman. Originally published in 1969. Hugo and Nebula Awards

March 26

• Lew Stedman, Thereminist
  Lew will give talk about his instrument and give a demonstration. The Theremin is one of the best know electronic instruments and has produced the earie background music heard in many Science Fiction films such as Forbidden Planet, spooky films like Spellbound, and popular music like Good Vibrations by the Beachboys.


• READING ORBIT- OCSFC Book Club:
  Our March book will be Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds.

February 26

• John Karwin


• READING ORBIT- OCSFC Book Club:
  Our February book will Forever Free by Joe Haldeman (October 2000)
  In this long-awaited sequel to The Forever War, Haldeman describes the postwar life of retired soldiers William and Marygay Mandella on the half-frozen planet Middle Finger, where they and other humans have been secluded by the newly evolved, superhuman race of Man. The long war with the Taurans is over and William and company are little more than relics, kept around to provide archaic genes should the Man ever wish to alter their own, cloned near-perfection. Dissatisfied with their stagnant lives, William and his fellow vets steal a starship. They plan to travel so far and fast that time dilation will allow them to return only a decade older but millennia in their world's future. (288 pages)
  (Bonus reading will be The Forever War, and the sequel to Forever Free entitled Forever Peace.)

January 29

• Warren James, host of the Hour 25 web broadcast. He'll be talking on how Mars has been reflected in humankind's imagination. Warren James' s day job is that of aerospace engineer. He is currently working for Northrop designing launch trajectories for the Reusable Launch Vehicle project.


• READING ORBIT- OCSFC Book Club:
  Our January book will be Perdido Street Station by China Mieville (2001)
  

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Email info@ocsfc.org for more information or call Greg at (949) 552-4925.